For 26 years, Molly Crowe’s aerobics class has battled cancer
together, celebrated weddings and births, welcomed grandchildren
and traveled the world
– all while keeping fit. Its core members describe it as a
powerful sisterhood, once rooted in fitness but now centered on
supporting each other through tragedies and triumphs in their
lives.
”
It’s evolved into the most supportive group of my life,
”
said 60-year-old Crowe, who started the class after moving to
Morgan Hill in 1981, when there were no private gyms.
”
People will have one or two close friends, but I feel like I
have 25 I
For 26 years, Molly Crowe’s aerobics class has battled cancer together, celebrated weddings and births, welcomed grandchildren and traveled the world – all while keeping fit.
Its core members describe it as a powerful sisterhood, once rooted in fitness but now centered on supporting each other through tragedies and triumphs in their lives.
“It’s evolved into the most supportive group of my life,” said 60-year-old Crowe, who started the class after moving to Morgan Hill in 1981, when there were no private gyms. “People will have one or two close friends, but I feel like I have 25 I can count on. And I know they all feel the same way, too.”
Crowe arrived in Morgan Hill when there was little in the way of organized fitness classes for women. The YMCA offered sporadic classes at the Friendly Inn, but selection was limited. So Crowe, a licensed aerobics instructor, launched an afternoon dance class at Burnett Elementary School. Between 10 and 15 women signed up, she recalls, many of whom still keep in touch and exercise together at the Morgan Hill Grange.
“People have come and gone, but the core group stuck with each other,” Crowe said.
Over the years, Crowe’s class – affectionately dubbed “Molly’s Follies” by friends who threw Crowe a 50th birthday party by the same name – began to exhibit all the signs of a loving family. Members throw birthday parties, baby showers, organize trips to Lake Tulloch, near Sonora, and lend support during hard times.
They keep in touch through a myfriends.com Web site in addition to phone calls and letters.
“It’s taken on a life of its own,” said Annette Osborne, 69, who joined Crowe’s exercise class about 15 years ago. “When one person is down, another is there to help.”
Marilyn Gadway, 69, one of Crowe’s first students, found the strength she needed in the group when she lost a son to a 1996 Florida sky-diving accident.
“Each day I walked, they were there to help me,” Gadway said. “We’ve tried to be that extra family member for each other, always there for whatever’s needed.”
Others in the group have battled breast cancer, Gadway said, undergoing chemotherapy and leaning on each other for support. Partly as a result, the group always sends a lively team to Morgan Hill’s annual Relay for Life event. They have even won trophies for being the most “energetic” team.
Ruth Max, 69, another longtime member of Crowe’s workout gang, marvels at the group’s transformation from a basic aerobics class to an unbreakable circle of friends.
“It’s like a ‘women’s family,’ ” she laughed. “We seldom do things that include our husbands. It’s a nice way to get together, an incentive to stay in shape and a way to help each other. What are friends for?”
The group has an organization called “ladies of the lake” that plans trips to Lake Tulloch.
“When we first went up there, we had a double wide with one bathroom … with 10 women,” laughed Osborne. “But it worked.”
Donna Walton, 59, said the women in the group are like sisters.
“I think anyone of us would absolutely lay down our life for one of us,” said Walton, who teaches at Nordstrom Elementary School. “We’ve helped each other through cancer, illnesses, injuries … even if we’re just having a bad day.”
The women in Crowe’s classes came from all walks of life, Walton said. Some were stay-at-home moms, some had careers, others were going back to school to start second careers. Many are active in the community, involved in groups such as American Association of University Women and the Morgan Hill Grange.
“We celebrate life together,” Walton said. “It started as a group who exercised and now it’s more about supporting each other through the changes in our lives. It’s different than it was in the ’80s, but we still have a good time and enjoy being together.”
